Thursday, May 31, 2012

Hi friends! I have a super fun summer project to share with you today! With summer approaching quickly I knew we needed a beach bag, but I'm super cheap and can't find one I like to fit my tiny budget so...diy time!

I wanted to make a bag out of a towel so I did a little Googling and what do you know, our good friend Martha Stewart had a great towel beach bag! However, I found the directions majorly lacked details so if you are a visual person like me I hope you'll appreciate a few more pictures, descriptions and easy tweeks! Here we go!

1 hand towel in the same color {Target $3.49 for a 2-pack...at the bottom of this post I'll show you what I made with the extra towel!}

webbing, twill, tape, ribbon, or fabric to make your handles, each cut to 25"

2 buttons (optional)

basic sewing supplies

I chose to make my own handles out of fabric as opposed to using webbing, but you can do whatever you want! Just make sure you have 2 25" lengths of whatever you chose to use.

Pin your handles to the long side of your hand-towel 7.5 inches in from each side. You are also pinning them 3" down from the top. Make sure not to twist the handle. It should look like a "U". Also make sure you pin the handle to the "right side" of the towel. I left the tags on the towels so it would be easy for me to tell which side was which.

Stitch each side of the handle down in a rectangle to reinforce the straps and make sure they are nice and strong. It will look like this...

Now you are going to lay your hand towel on top of the short side of your bath towel and mark where you need to put the other handle. Martha's directions tell you to get a hand towel that is the same width as your bath towel. Mine was like an inch and a half shorter, but I made it work. Center your hand towel onto your bath towel (if they aren't the same length) and pin as a marker where you need your other handle to go.

All pinned and ready to stitch down the same way you stitched the other handle. In a rectangle to reinforce the straps.

Ok, now the straps are attached so lay them right sides together matching the handles and the top edges. See how my hand towel is a little shorter? Irritating, but it really doesn't matter too much. If I was super fancy and had a serger, I would have trimmed the bath towel to the length of the hand towel and serged the raw edge, but I'm not fancy.

Once everything is lined up, pin the bottom edge of the hand towel to the bath towel.

Stitch down with a 3/8" allowance. *Note: I used my walking foot because terry cloth is cushy. Worked well, but if you don't have a walking foot, just use lots of pins and go slow.

Now you are going to pin the sides and stitch them down also using a 3/8 allowance.

All stitched!!! This is how you lay on it at the beach. You can put your cover up or something in the pocket as a pillow. Awesome but here is the fun part...flip the bag part inside out...

See how the towel is hanging out? Roll it up and tuck it inside. It will look like this...

Love it! Except for those little flappies that the excess bath towel made, but never fear...buttons to the rescue!

I just hand sewed a button to each flap and it's holding it down and out of the way just fine.

Want to see what I made with the extra towel???

A fun little pouch to hold my wallet, phone, sunscreen and anything else on the small side that I don't want floating around in the big bag!

I hope this tutorial makes sense! It's really not hard at all and you end up with a really good sized bag to take with you to the beach! I can't wait for summer!!!

Check out Martha's bag which was my inspiration and guidelines for this bag.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Hi friends! I hope you're having a great week! Thanks for linking up to Made With Love! Great party this week! It's not too late to link up if you have something crafty or tasty to share! Link up HERE.

Last week, I did a little thrifting. I wanted a chambray shirt, but I didn't want to pay big bucks for one because who knows how long this trend will be around right? They are like $50 at the Gap or Nordstrom. No thanks. Anyhow, I found this little gem at the Goodwill...

It was $4 dollars people so I new I could get crafty and cover up Mickey!

A little trip to JoAnn's and...

Doilies for the WIN! So much better than Mickey right?!?! Well, I think so. Now for some styling. I browsed Pinterest for some Chambray shirt ideas and found this one that I really liked!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Thanks so much to everyone who came and linked up last week! Another great party as always!

The most viewed link was...

This BEAUTIFUL Orange Ombre Cake linked up by Ashlee from Topsy Turvy! How fun is that??? Ashlee is AMAZING!!!

Alright party people...are you ready for this week's link up???

Let’s get to it! I'll be featuring
my favorite links on the Facebook Fan Page throughout the week! Are you a
fan? I also try to Pin my favorites to Pinterest. The top clicked link will be featured during next weeks party!

{Just a few party guidelines}

Link up your crafts, recipes, home decor....anything that has been made by you! {Multiple links to different posts are fine}

Link back here by grabbing
the super cute button on my sidebar and posting it either in your post
or somewhere on your blog to let others know you've joined the party!

If you see something you like, click on it and go leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments!

Lastly, feel free to help me
spread the word about Made with Love Monday! Follow me on Twitter {just
click on my little Twitter button} and tweet about the party. Make sure to @ tag me so I can RT you!

Friday, May 25, 2012

I discovered another fabulous use of washi tape!!! A seam marker. Brillz. The dress I made had very nice seams. Thank you washi!!!

Ok, this kid LOVES Dancing With The Stars! Check out that hip action! Too cute.

Jury duty notice. Right as summer is approaching. This is my luck people!

Loved the note in my Bible for this verse that said "enough time for what must be done, but no time for waste." Perfect motivation for a productive day!

This is me waiting for Zumba! I just started taking the class this week and I LOVE it! So fun it almost doesn't feel like hard work...but then I leave all kinds of sweaty and tired so it must be doing something! I'm running 3 days a week and doing Zumba 3 days a week. I feel good :)

Well that's a peek at my week! Carter is off from school today so we're enjoying a four day weekend! Woot. Have a happy day!

Happy Friday to you! I got to make some fun little pouches as swag giveaway for the Fairly Fabulous craft weekend and now that the recipients have theirs, I can share them with you!

So cute right?!? These are a perfect little pouch to contain all the little odds and ends that fall to the bottom of your bag! Like...

your business cards {that's what I use mine for!}

chapstick or lip gloss

gum

mints

a DS game or two for your little

...anything really!

{lovely little pleats}

velcro closure

These little pouches are so fun to make and come together really quickly! Want to make your own??? This is the Pleated Pouch Pattern from Michelle Patterns {formerly Keyka Lou}. You can order the pattern by clicking the Keyka Lou button on my sidebar!

*NOTE: This is the same pattern that I use for my Kindle Pouches and I also enlarged the Tall Pouch to use as a sunglasses case. Such a fun and versatile pattern!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Hi friends! I get to introduce you to an awesome new company called Beauty Box 5! Beauty Box 5 sends you samples of top quality beauty products through an affordable monthly membership! Want to see what was in my box this month???

Even the color of the box made me happy!

My box was filled with all kinds of girly goodness! A hair mask and serum by It's a 10. A delicious shea body butter by Tree Hut that smells SO good! A fun little tanning towelette by Comodynes that my pasty white legs are pretty excited about! A few night cream samples by Merlot that left my face soft and fresh feeling! And lastly a face mask by Evie Evan that I'm dying to play with. Being a girl is so fun.

See, all kinds of fun goodies to pamper yourself with! Go check out Beauty Box 5 and start getting a fun sample box like this delivered to you every month!